French Priest Says Holocaust Death Toll Likely to Rise Following Investigation

When Father Patrick Desbois heard that chilling Nazi maxim, he knew
that he had to make a journey into one of the darkest corners of the
Holocaust.

After a five-year investigation he had received a shocking insight
into the mechanics of genocide — and strong indications that
historians may have to raise their estimate of how many Jews were
killed.

Working with a ballistics expert, the 53-year-old French priest dug up
the mass graves of Ukraine.

"Every village was a crime scene,” he says, “and each case was
different because the heads of the killing squads had to take in all
the different factors — the geography, the transport available, the
proximity of partisans — before organising the most efficient
massacre.”

As his work in the Nazi killing fields continues, he is convinced that
the figure for the number of Jewish dead will have to be revised
upwards.